A new website has been created for The Dictionary of Welsh Biography. It will be launched at the beginning of November 2018 and will include new content, functions and design. Head over to biography.wales now to see what's new!

This website will eventually be replaced by biography.wales. In the meantime, we would like to hear from our users so you're welcome to send us any questions or feedback that you may have.

POWELL
,
THOMAS
(
1608?
-
1660
),
cleric
;

b. in the parish of
Cantref
,
Brecknock
, son of
JohnPowell
,
rector
of
Cantref
,
1601-26
. According to
Wood
he was b. in
1608
but, according to
Foster
, he was 18 years of age on
25 Jan. 1627/8
. He was educated at
Jesus College
,
Oxford
(
B.A.1629
,
M.A.1632
,
D.D.1660
). He obtained the living of
Cantref
,
4 May 1635
— his eldest brother,
HughPowell
, being the
patron
. In
1650
, under the
Commonwealth
, he lost the living and spent some time in exile. In
1651
he published a translation of a book by the
ItalianVirgilioMalvezzi
under the title
Stoa Triumphans: or Two Sober Paradoxes, I. The Praise of Banishment, II. The Dispraise of Honors
, but no special significance should be attached to the title, for in
Feb. and March 1653/4
he and two fellow-clerics were seeking permission to preach from
JenkinJones
of
Llanddety
(q.v.)
, one of the approvers appointed under the
Act for the propagation of the Gospel in Wales
. It is possible that his exile was due to the fact that he had ignored
JenkinJones
's prohibition. His only
Welsh
book,
Cerbyd Iechydwriaeth
,
1657
, is tainted with the bitterness of those years. He was restored to his parish in
1660
and was appointed
canon of S. Davids
. According to tradition he was nominated
bishop
of
Bristol
, but d.
31 Dec. 1660
, before he could be elected. His grave is in the church of
S. Dunstans in the West
,
London
.

Wood
gives a list of his works.
HenryVaughan
(q.v.)
, the
poet
, was his closest friend and it was to him that he left his works still in manuscript, among others his ‘
Fragmenta de Rebus Britannicis, A Short Account of the Lives, Manners, and Religion of the British Druids and Bards
.’